Castle demolition offers possibilities for 11th Street

By Dan Wallach

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, August 2, 2014

The former Simpson's Barbecue located on Interstate 10 near Magnolia Avenue being demolished in September.
Photo taken Thursday, September 19, 2013
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The former Simpson's Barbecue located on Interstate 10 near...

Ernest Jones, a worker with Beaumont Water Utility, uses a small excavator to cover up a new water line on Eleventh Street on Friday. Workers with the city of Beaumont installed a new water line to the site of the former Castle Motel, which is slated for demolition. Demolition could not go forward without the line due to safety concerns.
Photo taken Friday 8/1/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Ernest Jones, a worker with Beaumont Water Utility, uses a small...

An excavator sits in the entrance to the former Castle Motel on Friday afternoon. Workers with the city of Beaumont installed a new water line to the site of the former Castle Motel, which is slated for demolition. Demolition could not go forward without the line due to safety concerns.
Photo taken Friday 8/1/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

An excavator sits in the entrance to the former Castle Motel on...

Ernest Jones, a worker with Beaumont Water Utility, uses a small excavator to cover up a new water line on Eleventh Street on Friday. Workers with the city of Beaumont installed a new water line to the site of the former Castle Motel, which is slated for demolition. Demolition could not go forward without the line due to safety concerns.
Photo taken Friday 8/1/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Ernest Jones, a worker with Beaumont Water Utility, uses a small...

Ernest Jones, a worker with Beaumont Water Utility, uses a small excavator to cover up a new water line on Eleventh Street on Friday. Workers with the city of Beaumont installed a new water line to the site of the former Castle Motel, which is slated for demolition. Demolition could not go forward without the line due to safety concerns.
Photo taken Friday 8/1/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Ernest Jones, a worker with Beaumont Water Utility, uses a small...

Traffic passes on Eleventh Street at Ernest Jones, a worker with Beaumont Water Utility, uses a small excavator to cover up a new water line on Friday. Workers with the city of Beaumont installed a new water line to the site of the former Castle Motel, which is slated for demolition. Demolition could not go forward without the line due to safety concerns.
Photo taken Friday 8/1/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Traffic passes on Eleventh Street at Ernest Jones, a worker with...

Pictured is the front of the defunct Chula Vista restaurant on Friday afternoon. Workers with the city of Beaumont installed a new water line to the site of the former Castle Motel, which is slated for demolition. Demolition could not go forward without the line due to safety concerns.
Photo taken Friday 8/1/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

Pictured is the front of the defunct Chula Vista restaurant on...

Ernest Jones, a worker with Beaumont Water Utility, uses a small excavator to cover up a new water line on Eleventh Street on Friday. Workers with the city of Beaumont installed a new water line to the site of the former Castle Motel, which is slated for demolition. Demolition could not go forward without the line due to safety concerns.
Photo taken Friday 8/1/14
Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX
Photo: Jake Daniels

The Castle Motel may go down in the history as the derelict building that refuses to be demolished, but what remains of the abandoned and burned-out hulk likely will be flattened on Monday.

Work was supposed to begin Thursday, but the city of Beaumont discovered that it had no source of water, which was necessary for the demolition contractor to spray on the site to keep debris from blowing in the breeze.

On Friday, a crew from the city's Water Utilities Department bored a new hole under 11th Street to thread in a new 2-inch plastic pipe and finished the job late in the afternoon.

From the viewpoint of the northbound side of 11th and looking across the street at the Castle, 1125 N. 11th St., a large track hoe with a steel-toothed bucket attached is ready to chew into what remains. It sits behind a padlocked chain-link fence.

To the left of the Castle, or its south side, is A-1 Cleaners.

To the right of the Castle is the former Chula Vista Restaurant, which closed suddenly in late January 2013 after more than 30 years in business.

Earlier this year Claybar Funeral Properties Inc., which owns the properties at 1145 and 1155 N. 11th St., acquired the former Chula Vista property.

A telephone message for Warren Claybar could not be delivered late Friday afternoon.

"My first choice would be medical offices," said The Rev. James Fuller, Calder Baptist's pastor. "Eleventh Street is where there is a concentration of them. They're wonderful neighbors for us."

Calder Baptist is letting a contractor use a portion of its property for a construction trailer for a new medical office being built. Another new neighbor for the church is a cosmetic surgery office. The replacement for the old Gaylynn apartments is now the Southeast Texas Gastroenterology offices at 950 N. 14th St.

"We have watched over the last 20 years as property is redeveloped," Fuller said. "It hasn't been intense, but anyplace from the funeral home south is attractive," he said.

Commercial real estate broker Sheri Arnold also said the area along North 11th Street would be perfect for medical offices.

"I would put medical there so fast," she said. "That's what needs to go there. It's so accessible - right next to the freeway."

Across 11th Street from the Castle is the Funchess Mills and White accounting firm that partner Larry Mills said he has expanded twice since it was built. A new Fast Break filling station and convenience store is immediately to its south.

The sale of the Chula Vista and the demolition of the Castle opens up possibilities for the neighborhood.